Chapter 272: The Vampire King, Desmond (8)

"

Argh

, damn it, damn it!" Desmond cursed as he covered his eyes.

Kai dusted himself off and casually stood up, shooting Sacred Flare toward the ceiling.

"

Hm

. The brightness is just right."

He was quite pleased with the well-lit interior of the mansion.

"You should brighten up your house a bit. Maybe open the curtains."

Kai slightly swung his sword, sending Sword Wind to cut the curtains.

"You're not some child of darkness or anything...

Oh

, wait, you are," Kai laughed as he mimicked the speech of his high school homeroom teacher.

"You wicked human! How dare you launch such an ambush!"

Sacred Flare, which had gotten stronger due to the Upgrade skill, was exceptionally bright. Even Kai, who had been prepared with his eyes closed, felt slightly dizzy from its intensity. It was almost as blinding as a stun grenade.

Hmm. If I looked directly at the light... Oof.

The mere thought made Kai shake his head. "And you should phrase things correctly. I actually learned this beautiful strategy from you."

"

Urgh...!

"

With nothing to say, Desmond forcibly opened his eyes and stood up. His arms swung aimlessly in front of him like a blind man.

Without hesitation, Kai swung the Holy Sword, slicing through Desmond’s thick chest.

"

Agh

...

!

"

Desmond reached out, pinpointing Kai’s location from the attack. At the same time, from the empty air, a crimson vortex erupted.

"

Huh?!

"

A mere graze was enough to take away 12% of Kai’s HP—an overwhelming level of attack power.

Desmond is definitely dangerous.

Of course, Kai’s attacks worked just as well. Since vampires were classified as demon-type monsters, they took extra damage from holy power. And with the Holy Sword equipped, Kai could deal 100% additional damage to demons and undead.

Still unable to fully regain his vision, Desmond wildly unleashed attacks in every direction. "Die, die!"

I have to make use of this opportunity.

Kai began running—not directly toward Desmond but around him, circling him like a racer on a track. The reason was simple.

"Wh-where are you?!"

Unable to locate Kai, Desmond fired off attacks in all directions while simultaneously forming a powerful defense barrier around himself.

The moment that disappears—that single moment is my opening.

Boom, boom!

Kai deliberately stomped his feet, revealing his presence.

Desmond’s ears twitched. "There... No, over there!"

A crimson storm howled, tearing through the mansion.

But, of course, none of it touched Kai. If a ranker were to get hit by a blind monster’s attack, they didn’t deserve the title in the first place.

"I-I can finally see a little."

Just as Desmond’s vision was beginning to return, Kai abruptly changed direction, making a sharp right turn and dashing straight toward him.

Desmond’s crimson barrier had already vanished.

"Never let your guard down in battle. The moment you relax is always the most dangerous."

One should only feel at ease after their opponent was dead, when the fight was truly over.

"

K-kugh

...

!

”

Desmond swung his arms with the Holy Sword embedded in his left eye.

Kai didn’t resist the force, and instead, absorbed the impact as much as possible and let himself be thrown backward.

I’ve blocked off one of his fields of vision.

A human’s field of vision was wide. Not just wide, but among the broadest of all animals. One hundred forty-five degrees to the right. One hundred forty five degrees to the left. Fifty-five degrees upward. Seventy-five degrees downward. And the same applied to vampires.

But he won’t be able to use his left eye anymore.

Desmond’s left eye was already destroyed, blood gushing from the wound.

In a one-on-one battle, especially against a powerful opponent, losing vision in one eye was a much more severe penalty than most realized.

First, there was depth perception.

"

Huh

...

?!

"

Having spent his entire life viewing the world through two eyes, Desmond could no longer accurately gauge the distance between himself and Kai.

Kai targeted that weakness. With dazzling footwork, Kai relentlessly disoriented Desmond’s vision while steadily accumulating damage. And one more thing...

He reacts a beat slower to attacks from the left.

Response to attacks from blind spots were sluggish.

"

Kugh...! Urgh...!

"

Kai played with the Vampire King as if handling a child. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Even with one eye gone, Desmond’s overwhelming attack power remained intact.

"You damn rat! Take this! Die!"

Rumble!

A single hit could easily take away 10% of Kai’s health, and a direct critical hit would cause even greater bleeding. But above all, there was one thing Kai was most concerned about.

I must not bleed.

Vampires replenished their health by drinking their opponent’s blood, and before him stood the Vampire King. Bleeding in front of him would be the worst mistake possible.

Therefore, Kai’s movements seemed reckless to an untrained eye, but any ranker watching would have been shocked. He calculated not only Desmond’s next move but also the one after that before making his own. This wasn’t a turn-based game. In real-time combat, where actions unfolded in nanoseconds, such precision was nearly impossible. It was literally instinct-driven, animalistic combat.

"

Grghh

...

!

"

With his health dropping below 30%, the Vampire King’s pale body began turning red. At the same time, thin red lines appeared in the air. At first, there was only one. Then two. Then more.

This doesn’t look good.

Sensing danger, Kai instinctively moved to avoid the lines. It was the right call.

From those drawn bloodlines, crimson blades erupted, slicing through everything in their path. The ground, pillars, walls—nothing escaped their fury.

I need to finish this quickly.

Kai furrowed his brows as he checked the party window. He had assumed his party members were safe, but their health was steadily dropping.

Feeling a sense of urgency, he decided to take a slight risk.

"Upgrade, Holy Chains."

Shh-clink!

Thick iron chains shot out from his sleeve, coiling around the Vampire King’s neck.

"

Kugh...!

"

The muscles in the Vampire King’s entire body bulged, and his tight attire tore apart effortlessly. The physique hidden beneath was astounding. A body sculpted entirely from solid muscle, without a single trace of fat, almost awe-inspiring. However, there was no time to admire it.

"Upgrade, Hellfire.”

Fwoosh!

The flames of hell surged along Holy Chains, spreading straight to Desmond’s body.

With the upgrade, the Hellfire skill burned even more fiercely than before.

The Vampire King didn’t even scream. He simply clenched his lips so tightly that blood seeped from them, glaring at Kai.

... Tough bastard.

Kai furrowed his brows as he looked at Desmond. His health had dropped below 22%, yet he seemed even livelier than before.

My attacks are starting to lose effectiveness.

It was because Desmond had gotten the hang of his attack patterns.

The longer this fight drags on, the worse it is for me.

Kai bluntly assessed the situation. His party members’ health wasn’t in a good state, and the number of remaining dullahans and skeletons were steadily decreasing.

That means it’s time to end things here.

Kai yanked on the chains. Instead of resisting, the Vampire King used the force as momentum and charged toward Kai.

Here he comes!

Kai braced himself, eyes wide open as the Vampire King lunged at him.

Desmond’s sharp fangs sank deep into Kai’s left forearm.

"

Argh...!

"

At the same time, notification windows quickly began to flood in.

Ding!

[Desmond has used Blood Drain. You have taken 20,000 damage.]

[Desmond has used Blood Drain. You have taken 20,000 damage.]

.

.

.

With Kai’s total health barely over 140,000, losing 20,000 per second was fatal. Moreover, Desmond’s health was rapidly regenerating at a rate of 10,000 per second.

However, as if he had been waiting for this exact moment, Kai curled his lips into a smirk.

"Upgrade, Holy Chains."

Summoning the enhanced Holy Chains once more, Kai wrapped both his bitten left arm and Desmond’s body tightly. Then, a magic circle appeared in the air.

"Sunlight’s Warmth."

Kai’s body began to glow in a gold light, instantly restoring 40,000 HP.

"Let’s see who the real tough guy is."

Sensing that something was wrong, Desmond tried to pull away, but the fangs embedded in Kai’s left arm wouldn’t budge. Even worse, his body, bound by the Holy Chains, was completely immobilized.

Kai’s eyes were filled with rage as he said, "Go ahead. Try to keep sucking my blood."

Then, the Holy Sword plunged deep into Desmond’s side.

[Desmond has used Blood Drain. You have taken 20,000 damage.]

"Sunlight’s Warmth."

[40,000 HP has been restored.]

Health was drained, then restored, then drained again, then restored. Their battle was no longer dazzling and flashy as it had been at the start. Now, it looked like nothing more than a contest between two undying zombies, testing whose vitality would last longer.

Desmond let out a pained growl as he continued sucking Kai’s blood. "

Grghhh...!

"

It seemed getting stabbed in the same spot repeatedly was too much, even for him. "

Graaaah!

"

Eventually, he broke his own fangs and tore his mouth away from Kai’s left arm. At the same time, he dissolved into hundreds of bats, breaking free from Holy Chains.

Now’s my chance.

Kai’s eyes shined.

As the swarm of bats fled backward, he activated his skill. "Wrath of the Sun!”

The sky—no, the ceiling, where only the full moon had existed, shattered into countless fragments and began to collapse. Through the gaps, sunlight poured in, bombarding the ground.

Boom! Boom! Bzzzzzt!

Wrath of the Sun erased the mansion from the map as if wiping it away with an eraser.

"

K-kugh

..." Desmond lay face down on the ground, coughing up blood. "

G-grhh...

"

Even as he lay there, he glared at Kai with murderous intent.

"Any last words?" Kai asked, though it was purely out of courtesy.

"Humans... You humans... have always been the same..."

But Desmond sincerely began to speak his final words. Like a dying candle burning its brightest flame before going out, he used the last of his strength to get up.

"You set yourselves... as the standard, and label anything different as wrong... How arrogant and impudent your kind is!"

Kai coldly watched as Desmond staggered toward him.

"A son of a demon? What a joke. I was merely afflicted with a terrible skin disease. Aside from that, I was just as pathetic as any other human."

Desmond grabbed Kai’s collar.

Kai could feel the trembling in his grip. Whether it was from his failing strength or the surge of emotions within him, Kai did not know.

"Humans cannot understand what is different from them. They cannot accept it. In fact, they neither understood nor accepted me. Because of that, my mother... was accused of being a witch and burned at the stake!"

Kai silently listened.

"

Heh

. Ironically, it wasn’t even my own kind, but the Demon King himself who acknowledged me and granted me this power. The day I gained strength, I returned to my village and tore every last human there to pieces.

Hah

... but do you know what the funny part is?"

Desmond’s shoulders shook as he laughed. "Humans, those pathetic creatures... Even when faced with something different from them, if it is strong, they beg for their lives.

Bahahahaha!

Even when confronted with something they do not understand—if it holds power, they plead. Have you ever seen a greater comedy?

Huh?

Tell me, have you?!"

Thud.

After unleashing his fury, Desmond's arm fell to his side. Having lost all strength, he staggered and collapsed ungracefully.

"

Ugh

..."

Lying on the floor, Desmond looked at the sky.

I promised my mother that I would never forget the night sky of that day...

One of his eyes had gone blind, and his sight was growing blurrier. Then, his heavy eyelids slowly closed.

The sky where the full moon once shone... If only I could see it one last time... that would be enough.

But unfortunately, the full moon was nowhere to be seen through the shattered ceiling.